7 Ways Careful Event Planning Can Benefit Your Small Business

Uncovered: Event Planning Benefits for Your Small Business

A supply box every event planner needs to have at the top of their checklist.
Getty/Blend Images/Marc Romanelli

So, you want to plan an amazing event to promote your business? Have you ever stopped to consider the very real business benefits you can unleash, by planning and executing an outstanding and memorable event? The kind of runaway success that every event planner dreams of?

The bottom line is this, what do you, as a small business, get out of it? Let’s uncover for you, 7 Ways Careful Event Planning Can Benefit Your Small Business and why you should plan that event without delay!

Build Awareness of Your Small Business

Is your business seen as a leader in its field? Do your potential customers even know you exist? The absolute key to interfacing with more clients, getting more orders and improving your bottom line, is to make your target audience acutely aware of your presence in the marketplace.

Why do you think companies spend thousands on personalized giveaways such as calendars, key rings, t-shirts and a host of other promotional items?

They want to be in their customer’s face constantly, making sure, that when a buying decision is about to be made, they are the first port of call.

Now, consider how much more effective a superbly run, high profile event would be at raising awareness of your company, than a coffee mug with your name printed on it!

Note: you can still use your event to distribute promotional merchandise to build awareness of your small business even further.

Build Brand Awareness

When thinking about what type of event to host, you may want to consider building the entire event around a particular brand. With careful event management and planning, a memorable event can be an excellent platform to build and re-enforce brand awareness – particularly for a new product launch.

Outsell Your Competition

As a small business owner, ask yourself this question – how many of your competitors are organizing successful events?

If the answer is none, then you clearly have the opportunity to raise your small business head and shoulders above the competition, putting yourself in the best possible position to outsell them.

If the answer is some, or all, then you definitely need to be organizing events to give your small business the chance to compete. The key is to organize a more professional, more memorable event through superior event management when you plan an event.

Collect Potential Customer Information

A major benefit of properly structured event planning, is that it gives you the ideal opportunity to capture potential customer information, such as email addresses, in an acceptable and, more importantly, legal way. (We’re assuming you already have contact details for existing clients).

Don’t forget, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, expressly forbids the sending of unsolicited emails and there are substantial penalties, under law, for doing so. Gaining a reputation as a “spammer” could be disastrous for your small business.

Popularity by Association

When you plan an event, securing the services of a well-known personality to speak or entertain your audience can result in major benefits for your small business.

If your audience has a truly enjoyable and memorable experience, they are bound to associate your company and brand with that experience. They are far more likely to think of you, rather than the competition when it comes to order time.

Free Publicity

If you can plan an event that captures the imagination of your target audience and appeals to the general public as well, you may find your event being picked up by local radio, newspapers or even television.

A good tip here is to get a press release professionally written and release it prior to your event. Send it to as many interested parties as possible and be sure to follow up with a phone call. Local media is hungry for news, a good event planner will feed that need. Be sure to pesonally invite local media to your event, too.

Return on Investment

Remember, there is absolutely nothing that forbids you making a profit on your event (many inexperienced event planners overlook this).

You should never see putting on an event as a direct cost when a real possibility exists to make a profit from your efforts. Be sure to take this into account, when planning your next event.

You can clearly see, from our 7 Ways Careful Event Planning Can Benefit Your Small Business article, that there are major returns to be gained from your next event – including turning a profit, should you wish to do so!

Good luck, and we wish you and your small business well in all your future event management and planning efforts.